How to Set up a Chessboard

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Chess is an ancient game that humanity still plays — and enjoys — to this day. Although chess has only a few rules, games can become remarkably complex. Luckily, setting up a chessboard is straightforward, and learning the rules of play is not difficult. This article will help you get started.

Set the board so that the bottom-right square is white. Both players will have a white square in the right corner on the edge of the board closest to them. The setup for each player looks identical from their perspective.

You set up your pieces on the two horizontal rows ("ranks") closest to you. The major pieces go on the first rank. The pawns go on the second rank.

Unlike in checkers, chess uses every single square on the board.

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Place a rook, or castle, on each of your two corners. Start with your rooks, which are tall pieces that move in straight lines either horizontally (along ranks) or vertically (along "files"). Place a rook on each of your two corners.

On a novelty board, such as Civil War sets or movie-themed pieces, it may be impossible to tell what a piece is without knowing the icons (or rule-book symbols) which may be marked on the bottom of the pieces. The symbol for a rook is ♜.

Place the knights next to the rooks. The knights, which look like horses, go just to the right and left of the rooks. Knights move three squares in an "L" shape, first two spaces in one direction, then one space in another, or first one space in one direction, then two in another. They move only along ranks and files, never diagonally. Knights can hop over pieces to make their moves, the only pieces allowed to do so. They are also the only pieces that do not move in straight lines.

Place the queen on the remaining, matching-color square. If you are the white side, your queen goes on the remaining white square in the middle of the first rank. If you are playing black, your queen goes on the remaining black square. The queen is one of the tallest pieces in the game and has a spiked crown. She can move horizontally, vertically, or diagonally any number of spaces, making her the most powerful piece on the board.

Place the king on the last open square of the first rank. The king is usually the tallest piece on the board and appears to wear a rounded crown often topped with a cross. The king can move in any direction but only one space at a time. You use the rest of your pieces to protect your king. If you lose your king, you lose the game.

Place the pawns along the second rank. After you've put your major pieces on the first rank, line up the lowly pawns like a protective wall on the second rank. Pawns move forward one space at a time, but they can make a variety of special moves, too.

The symbol for pawns is ♟.

Once both players place their pieces as shown above, they're ready to play.

Win the game by forcing the opponent's king into "checkmate." This occurs when you can capture the king on your next move no matter what your opponent does. By contrast, your opponent's king is merely "in check" if you could capture him on your next move but the opponent has a means of escaping. A player must immediately move his/her king out of check if it's possible to do so. [1]

You never actually capture a king. Once it's apparent that a king cannot avoid being captured on the next move, checkmate is immediately declared, and the game is over.

You must say "check" when you make a move that puts the opponent's king in immediate danger.

You may not place your own king in check. Such a move must be immediately rescinded. [2]

Capture the opponent's pieces to remove them from the game. If one of your pieces makes a move that ends on a square already occupied by an opponent's piece, you "capture" that piece and remove it from the game. Your piece then takes the captured piece's place on that square. You cannot capture your own pieces or occupy any square with more than one piece. In other words, you cannot move a piece through or to a square already occupied by one of your pieces -- with the exception of your knights. They may move over any other piece (but may not end a move on a square already occupied by one of your pieces.

With the exception of the pawn, you can capture pieces only with a "normal" move. For example, rooks can capture only with vertical or horizontal moves.

You cannot move over a piece to capture another one. If your piece "hits" another piece during its movement, it stops, captures the piece, and stays on that square. The knight is the only exception to this, as it takes a piece only when it ends a move by landing on that piece's square.

Begin with white. White always makes the first move, and the players alternate after that. For players of equal ability, there is a slight advantage to going first. Each turn consists of one player moving one piece. [3]

A player must move a piece every turn. They cannot skip a turn simply because they don't know where to move.

The only exception to the "move one piece" rule is called "castling," which allows a player to move two pieces at once in a specific pattern to protect the king. See below for more on castling. [4]

Watch out for stalemate. A game can end in a tie (a "draw"). Stalemate occurs when neither king is in check and the next player to move has no legal move available. If you are in an advantageous position, you would want to avoid stalemate. (The opposite is true if you are in a weak position and would love to force a tie.) Stalemate typically may occur when there are only a few pieces left such as pawns blocked by other pawns, and kings that can't move without putting themselves in check.

Remember that you can never put yourself in check. Thus, if it's your turn to move and your only available move would put your king in check, the game is over, and a stalemate is declared. [5] In some tournaments this means you lose, although most players call this a draw.

Move pawns one space forward. That is usually all they can do, so they're not very useful. However, in certain circumstances they become quite effective:

If your pawn gets all the way to the eighth rank (your opponent's first rank), you can "promote" it to any piece you want, typically a queen or knight. That means that a pawn that has advanced very far along its file becomes quite powerful. [6]

In its very first move, a pawn may (but does not have to) move two spaces forward instead of one.

A pawn can capture a piece which is diagonally one square in front of it. It cannot capture an otherwise adjacent piece.

En passant or "capture in passing" can occur when the opponent moves their pawn two spaces ahead to avoid moving into your pawn's capture position (forward-diagonally adjacent). If this happens, only on your very next turn you can move your pawn diagonally into the space they skipped and take that pawn anyway. [7]

Move rooks an unlimited number of spaces vertically or horizontally. Rooks move in straight lines forward, backward, or sideways. They can cross as many vacant squares as they want but must stop if they come to another piece (or, of course, the edge of the board).

If an enemy piece is in the way, the rook must stop before the piece or capture it. If it's a "teammate," it must stop before it comes to that square. [8]

Move knights in an "L"shape. Knights have the most distinctive movement in the game: they "hop" three times, first two spaces in one direction and then one space in a perpendicular direction, or first one space in any direction and then two spaces perpendicularly. Knights move only along ranks and files, never diagonally. [9]

Knights are the only pieces allowed to hop over other pieces of either color. They capture a piece only by finishing their move on a square occupied by an enemy piece. (They cannot finish on a square already occupied by a piece of their own color.)

Move bishops any number of spaces diagonally. Bishops can move in four directions: diagonally right or left (either forward or backward). This means a bishop always stays on the same color squares. For example, if it begins on a white square, there is no way for a bishop ever to get onto a black square.

Bishops cannot hop over pieces. If there is a piece in the way, the bishop must stop or (if it's an opponent) capture it. [10]

Move the queen in a straight line any direction any number of spaces. She can move forward, backward, sideways, and diagonally as many vacant spaces as she wants. This makes her your most powerful piece.

A queen cannot move in the knight's L-shaped pattern.

A queen cannot skip over pieces. She must complete her move either by stopping before coming to another piece or by capturing that piece.

Move the king in any direction one space at a time. Kings can move one space forward, backward, sideways, or diagonally. The only exception is called castling, whereby a king and one of the rooks switch positions to help defend the king. In order to castle:

Neither the king nor the rook can have moved at any point in the game thus far.

There can be no pieces in between the rook and the king.

The king cannot be in check at the time of castling, nor can the king in castling move through or to a square in which he would be in check.

In one turn, move the king two spaces towards the rook, then slide the rook into the square the king skipped over. They will now be on opposite sides and right next to each other. [11]

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Chess Help

Community Q&A

White always goes first, but the player black has the advantage of choosing which side of the table to sit on and on which side should the clock be. I good way to decide who plays white and who plays black is to have one person takes one pawn of each color, put them behind his back, mixes them, and the other player chooses a hand. The color that player picked is the color he gets to play with. After the first game, the player who lost plays white.

Castling is a defensive tactic involving moving your king and one of your rooks at the same time. If castling to the king's side, the king moves two squares to his right, and the rook moves two squares left to stand to the left of and next to the king. If castling to the queen's side, the king moves two squares to the left, and the rook moves three squares to the the right to stand to the right of and next to the king. Castling can be done only when there are no pieces between the king and the rook you will move. The king and rook cannot have moved previously. You cannot castle if your king is in check or if doing so would move your king through or to a square where he would be in check.

When a pawn reaches the opponent's back row, can it become any piece - or just a captured piece?

Nicolas

Community Answer

This is known as a "promoted pawn." A pawn that reaches the eighth (or back) row can immediately become any other piece (except a king). This includes uncaptured pieces. This means that after promotion a player could have two queens or three rooks, bishops or knights. Typically a player would promote his/her pawn to a queen but can choose another piece instead (if doing so would be advantageous in a particular situation).

No, you cannot castle if your king is in check. You can castle only under these circumstances: (1) Your king is not in check; (2) You have not previously moved either your king or the rook you want to castle with; (3) There are no pieces standing between your king and that rook; and (4) Your king will not move through or to a square in which the king would be in check. Also, as a matter of chess etiquette, if your opponent is inexperienced, you should make him/her aware of the possibility of castling before the game begins.

The queen can move one or more spaces in a straight line in any direction. This makes her a payer's most powerful attacking piece. She must stop before reaching a space occupied by a piece of her color. She may not move beyond a space in which she captures a piece of the opposite color. (She, of course, must stop at any edge of the board.)

No. A knight may jump over other pieces of either color. The knight may not finish its move by landing on a square already occupied by a piece of the knight's color. It may, however, land on a square occupied by a piece of the opposite color (in which case the knight captures that piece).

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Tips

Learn chess tactics. Chess is an amazingly complex game. It has very few rules, but those rules have given birth to whole books full of tactics and strategy. Read as many as you can to become a better chess player.

Learn how to open in chess. The opening phase of a game lays the groundwork for the rest of the game. Slip up here and you're likely to pay for it later. Openings are fun to study. An experienced opponent will be aware of many opening patterns.

About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 39 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. Together, they cited 11 references.

To set up a chessboard, position the board so that the bottom-right square is white, and place a rook in each of your 2 corners. Then, place the knights next to the rooks, and the bishops next to the knights. Place the queen on the remaining block in the back row that matches the color of your pieces, and position the king in the remaining block. Fill in the 2nd row, or rank, with pawns to protect your other pieces.

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